- US median pay$47,540 a year[2]All industries, BLS May 2025
- One-time fee$2,500–3,000[1]On the start day, only if you hire
- Free replacementWithin 180 days[1]One per placement, fee paid, role, hours and pay unchanged, no refund
What Microsoft 365 is for in this role
Microsoft 365 is Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, the standard office suite in law, finance, construction and many other industries. For a virtual assistant it means shared mailboxes, documents, trackers and team files.
What knowing Microsoft 365 really means
- Works with shared mailboxes and quick steps
- Writes documents with proper headings and templates
- Uses Excel for trackers with filters and lookups
- Files in the correct SharePoint location, with co-authoring in mind
A short practical test
Give a rough letter and a list of items. Ask for a Word letter from your template, an Excel tracker and a short note on where they'd file each. Check templates are used, and that there's no copy saved to their own computer.
How long a smart hire needs to learn it
A few days. Most candidates know the basics. SharePoint habits need some teaching. Give the person a real Microsoft 365 task on the first day, with someone checking the result, rather than a course.
Our rule of thumb from how the work breaks down, not a study.
What access to give
Give the person their own company account with multi-factor sign-in. Use Outlook delegate access for someone else's mailbox and calendar, rather than a shared password. Share through SharePoint sites and Teams with named permissions. Keep admin roles with your IT provider, and check conditional access rules, which may block sign-ins from abroad.
Available now
No published virtual assistant profile lists Microsoft 365 on Stafka today. Send the brief, we reply within one business day with a yes or a no.
Choose a country: shared hours
Repeating admin work can run on a written checklist with a daily check-in, so a partial overlap with your day usually works. Anything phone-based needs agreed hours.
Against a 9–17 client day in winter[3][4][5][6]; for New York, on a 9–18 local day or a 13–22 shift. Check your own office.
What it costs
We do not publish a pay band for virtual assistants yet: where a profile lists a monthly rate, that is what the person asks for. The BLS figure of $47,540 a year is for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive[2] across all industries: we have no separate figure for this niche. Paying through Deel adds $49 a month[7]; Wise and Payoneer also work.
See also: virtual assistant pay in the US, by state · pricing and replacement terms.
How hiring through Stafka works
- Send the brief or post the job free. List the recurring tasks, how often each one happens, and the person who will answer questions in the first month.
- Within 5 business days of a confirmed brief you get 3 matching profiles, or a plain no. Most apply through our Telegram bot with a written and a voice English task; each profile shows the English level (B1–C2); Silkstaff checks English on a live call before any client interview.
- You interview, choose and contract the person directly through Deel, Wise or Payoneer. Candidates never pay.
Questions
What's the most common Microsoft 365 mess?
Files in several places: Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and email attachments. Agree one place for each type of file, and have the VA hold to it. It saves everyone a lot of searching.
Should I pay more for a virtual assistant who already knows Microsoft 365?
Our placement fee is the same either way. Prior knowledge matters most when nobody on your team can teach Microsoft 365. Our rule of thumb for learning it: A few days. Most candidates know the basics. SharePoint habits need some teaching.
Where can I hire an affordable virtual assistant who knows Microsoft 365?
The usual routes are a freelance marketplace, an agency with a monthly margin, or a direct hire in a lower-cost country. On Stafka it is a direct hire: you pay the person the monthly pay you agree with them, plus $2,500–3,000[1] once if you hire, with no monthly margin.
General information for small employers, not legal or tax advice: check contracts, tax and data rules for your country with a qualified adviser. Tool names belong to their owners; we are not affiliated with them. Spotted a mistake? Write to hello@silkstaff.com.